


The Room Isn't Burning

by ellacj



Series: 52 Weeks of Swan Queen [16]
Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Coming Out, F/F, Fluff, Slow Dancing, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, Weddings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-25
Updated: 2015-04-25
Packaged: 2018-03-25 15:07:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,384
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3814954
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ellacj/pseuds/ellacj
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Baby, you're the only light I ever saw."</p><p>-John Mayer</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Room Isn't Burning

**Author's Note:**

> Title is a play on "Slow Dancing in a Burning Room" by John Mayer, which is also the song mentioned in the fic.

Emma’s never been invited to a wedding.

Which is why she’s sitting on Regina’s couch, crossing her fingers that Regina will give her the answer she wants, and she can go home and check _+1_ on the beautiful invitation sitting on her kitchen table.

Regina smiles. “I’d love to. But I was already invited to the wedding.”

Emma deflates slightly, but her spirits pick up easily when Regina reaches out to take her hand. “I’ll save you a dance,” she teases.

“You’d better give me more than one.”

“We’ll see.” Regina leans forward to capture Emma’s lips in a gentle kiss, allowing herself to be drawn closer until she’s practically sitting in Emma’s lap. “What are you going to wear?”

“I’ve got a red dress that’s been gathering dust since I moved here,” Emma murmurs against her lips, hooking her thumbs into Regina’s beltloops. “What about you?”

Regina smiles into the kiss. “You know me. Black is my color.”

“You should try purple. It’s the color of royalty.”

“I know. I’m wearing purple right now.”

Emma pulls away, glancing up and down Regina’s outfit, seeing only a blue t-shirt and black jeans. “Where?”

Regina doesn’t say anything; simply raises her eyebrows and crosses her arms across her stomach to remove her t-shirt and reveal a lace bra in a deep, rich shade of violet.

“Is Henry home?”

“Of course not.”

“Upstairs. Now.”

 

Emma’s sick of sitting.

She stares at everyone around her, twirling around the dance floor with the people they love – even Henry and Paige are giggling together near the edge. But here she is sitting next to Regina, their hands touching under the table because _no one can know_. She sighs. She almost wishes she’d never been invited to this wedding.

The peppy song ends, and as the first few notes of a much slower song ring out, Emma stands up and pulls Regina up with her. “I love this song,” she says with a grin. “Dance with me.”

Regina glances around uncertainly, chewing on her lip. “People will talk.”

“Let ‘em talk. I wanna dance with my girlfriend.” She tugs Regina onto the dance floor, holding her close with their joined hands. “So… teach me how to slow dance.”

“You don’t know how?” Regina raises her eyebrows.

Emma shrugs. “I was a bail bonds person, not a queen.”

Regina rolls her eyes, stepping closer so their bodies touch. “One hand on my waist.” She places her hand on Emma’s shoulder, lifting their clasped hands to the side. “Just move with the music.”

The song is just perfect to dance like this, and Emma smiles gently as she dances with her girlfriend in public for the first time. Regina’s head moves to rest on her shoulder and Emma tightens her grip on her waist, fingers slipping on black satin. She doesn’t know if there’s a word that exists for what she’s feeling right now; but if she had to pick one it would be _bliss_.

“Emma?” The voice is shrill and indignant and definitely not Regina’s, and when Emma turns around her mother is standing behind her, hand-in-hand with David.

Regina quickly jumps apart from Emma, smoothing already impeccable hair and trying unsuccessfully to hide the blush creeping up into her cheeks.

“Why were you…” Mary Margaret trails off as though unable to finish the sentence, but she looks way too horrified for Emma’s taste.

Emma narrows her eyes. “Why do you think?” She reaches over to clasp Regina’s hand, giving it a comforting squeeze without breaking eye contact with Mary Margaret. The song ends and is replaced by a new, more upbeat one. Still no one speaks.

Finally, David sighs. “We’ll talk about this later. Come on, Snow.” He guides her away and she follows suit, face still as white as her namesake.

“Your parents officially hate me.” Regina drops Emma’s hand.

Emma rolls her eyes. “Don’t worry about them. Come on, I know somewhere private where we can finish our dance.”

Regina tilts her head, eyes wide and brown and utterly innocent. “But-”

“Look, I’ll deal with my parents later. I still wanna dance with my girlfriend.” She takes Regina’s hand back into her own, leading her out of the ballroom and snatching up her purse on the way out.

“The bathroom?” Regina asks when Emma pushes the door open, wrinkling her nose with distaste. “I wasn’t aware the event hall even had more than a single stall.”

Emma grins. “We’ve got the VIP suite.” They go into the largest stall all the way at the opposite wall, and Emma locks the door behind them.

“Well, this is definitely impressive, princess, but how are we going to dance with no music?”

“Who said we didn’t have music?” Emma digs into her purse and pulls out her iPod and a pair of earbuds, offering one to Regina while inserting the other into her own ear. After selecting the right song she tucks her iPod into her dress and places her hand back on Regina’s waist. “May I have this dance, Your Majesty?” she asks with a cocky grin.

Regina smirks. “Is it really dancing with you?”

“I’ll let you be the judge of that.” Emma brings their joined hands out to the side, locking her eyes onto soft brown ones as John Mayer sings into their ears and they begin to sway back and forth.

_My dear, we’re slow dancing in a burning room._

She considers it; the irony of this song and all the progress they’ve made in their relationship in the past year. She thought they’d been doomed from day one, because how the hell could an Evil Queen love a Savior? But somehow they made it here, dancing in a bathroom at a wedding, and it feels so goddamn _right_. Emma’s never been good at keeping herself from getting attached. She gives away love like extra change that never seems to finds its way back to her pocket, always ends up broken and alone with nothing to show for it.

But Regina.

Regina’s not like the rest of them; Regina’s an investment. Emma gave Regina everything she had left with that first kiss, put everything she had into the hands of someone who’s tried to destroy her on countless occasions, and somehow, it’s paid off.

The song ends and changes to something by Kanye West, but neither of them move apart. Rather, Regina clutches her even tighter, lowering her head to its place on Emma’s shoulder with a soft, contented sigh. She’s never looked so vulnerable.

“I love you, you know.” It’s out of her mouth before she can stop it, and when Regina looks up at her with those wide brown eyes, she finds she’s absolutely okay with it.

Regina doesn’t say anything; simply stands there with her lips slightly parted and nerves dancing in her eyes.

Emma smiles softly. “You don’t have to say it.” She squeezes Regina’s hand. “I just wanted you to know. I love you.”

“You make me weak,” Regina murmurs, and Emma can read between the lines well enough, has heard _love is weakness_ from her enough times to know exactly what she’s really saying.

“You make me strong.”

They don’t say much after that because they’re too busy kissing. It’s a fire burning where their lips are touching, a flaming passion neither of them want to escape. It’s the first time they met and the first time they said goodbye and all the times Emma held Regina in her arms after nightmares about a cruel husband and a love lost twice over.

The end of the night sees Regina wrapped securely in Emma’s arms and both of their hearts beating to the rhythm as they sway back and forth with Emma peppering kisses all over Regina’s face.

The door opens and there’s someone calling Emma’s name, and with a sigh Emma takes Regina’s hand and exits the stall to come face-to-face with Mary Margaret herself.

“The wedding’s over.” Mary Margaret’s face is pale white again, and she’s looking them up and down with a horror unmatched by anything else Emma’s seen before. “What were you doing in there?” she hisses.

Emma smiles, glancing over at Regina and her kiss-smeared lipstick. “Don’t worry, Mom.” She squeezes Regina’s hand. “We were just dancing.”


End file.
